Equity Investments, Fair Value Option, Voting Shares

No definition available.

Name:	mo_EquityInvestmentsFairValueOptionVotingShares
Namespace Prefix:	mo_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Equity Securities Without Readily Determinable Fair Value, Ownership Percentage

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	mo_EquitySecuritiesWithoutReadilyDeterminableFairValueOwnershipPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	mo_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Income (Loss) from Equity Investments, Fair Value Option

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	mo_IncomeLossFromEquityInvestmentsFairValueOption
Namespace Prefix:	mo_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of cumulative loss from downward price adjustment on investment in equity security without readily determinable fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 321
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123583765&loc=SL75117539-209714

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesWithoutReadilyDeterminableFairValueDownwardPriceAdjustmentCumulativeAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of impairment loss on investment in equity security without readily determinable fair value.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesWithoutReadilyDeterminableFairValueImpairmentLossAnnualAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of cumulative gain from upward price adjustment on investment in equity security without readily determinable fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 321
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123583765&loc=SL75117539-209714

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesWithoutReadilyDeterminableFairValueUpwardPriceAdjustmentCumulativeAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentEquityMethodInvesteeNameAxis=mo_JUULMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Investments in Equity Securities (Investment in JUUL Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) shares in Millions	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2021	Sep. 30, 2020	Sep. 30, 2021	Sep. 30, 2020	Oct. 31, 2020	Apr. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2018
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Equity securities without readily determinable fair value, downward price adjustment, cumulative amount					$ 0
Impairment of JUUL equity securities	$ 0	$ 2,600,000,000	$ 0	$ 2,600,000,000
JUUL [Member]
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Equity securities, ownership percentage	35.00%		35.00%			35.00%	35.00%
Equity investments, fair value option, voting shares (in shares)	42		42
Equity securities without readily determinable fair value, upward price adjustment, cumulative amount					$ 0
Impairment of JUUL equity securities		2,600,000,000		2,600,000,000
Income (loss) from equity investments, fair value option	$ 100,000,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0